A Beautiful Relationship

Hanover Farmers Direct Market to Historic Inn

Tracy Sutton
Regional Editor

HANOVER, Pa. — Chef Andrew Little has a good thing going and he knows it. Little, executive chef at the historic Sheppard Mansion Inn in Hanover, Pa. serves a “farm-to-table” seasonal menu of organic local ingredients, most of which he sources from nearby farms.

“I like to go and meet the farmers and hear their stories,” said Little. “Nine times out of 10, it’s a great product. I see the great love they put into their work. I try it and I get excited.”

Little grew up in Hanover, the son of school teachers, and left to live in New York for awhile, attending the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. He also worked at the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, a renowned farm-to-table restaurant, where he learned to “use the countryside in the menu” as a “guiding force” — a philosophy he’s brought to the Sheppard Mansion Inn.

“I invite the farmers into the restaurant. It’s important to me to be invested in the product. To showcase it. Then we know where each other is coming from. It gives me a feeling for the whole experience.”

Little says he prefers to buy directly from farmers, rather than middlemen.

One of his farmers brings him seed catalogs in the winter to look at, so he knows what produce will be available the next season. “It’s a totally different approach than just ordering from Sysco.”

Little is impressed with the products he finds from the local farms he buys from.

“I don’t use them just because they’re local. Their products are on par with any products I’ve bought at any New York restaurant I’ve worked at. This competes with anything!”

Hanover-area farmer Beau Ramsburg sells pastured pork and chicken to Little. Ramsburg said he read about the chef and the restaurant at the inn and approached Little directly, inviting him to the farm. From there a beautiful relationship was born. Little now sources nearly all his pork and chicken from Ramsburg.

Ramsburg raises Tamworth and Berkshire pigs, which he rotationally grazes. He said he likes the heritage breeds for their foraging and mothering skills.

Ramsburg, who grew up on a local dairy farm, started pasture raising chickens and pigs in 2007 and has found success in direct market sales, through an e-mail membership list of customers, selling to the Sheppard Mansion Inn, as well as operating a stand at the Gettysburg Farmers Market.

“The keystone to success is direct marketing,” said Ramsburg. “Anything else is exploited on a scale. Big business comes in and saturates the market and ruins a good thing. That can’t happen with a direct marketing approach. That’s going to keep local food pure.”

Heather Sheppard Lunn is another farmer who works directly with Little. It helps that she’s part owner of the Sheppard Mansion Inn (a former residence of her grandparents).

Lunn’s family has been raising Scottish Highland cattle at Sheppard Mansion Farm for 30 years. They have 140 head and two breeding herds. Lunn says she prefers the Scottish Highland cattle, but does some cross breeding with Angus as well. Lunn says the rugged breed are surprisingly docile. “We like them because they’re easy. They’re very gentle and the meat is delicious.”

Other than grass, the cattle get corn and hay grown on the farm and a mineral mixture. Lunn is passionate about grazing livestock — the environmental benefits, as well as the taste. “Some people get wigged out by the yellow fat (that comes from a grass diet). But the flavor is amazing.”

“Everyone should know where their food comes from. Especially meat,” said Lunn.

Lunn also does direct market sales as well as operating a stand at the Gettysburg Farmers Market, where Ramsburg also sells.

Ramsburg, Lunn, and Little are part of “the story behind what’s getting on the plate,” said Little.

Little said he’d like to see more people discover the bounty that grows in this region and support local farms.

“I’m proud to say that southeast Pennsylvania is sustainably producing some of the greatest stuff anywhere."